


Equine Bonds

by CityEscape4



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, mention of Industral Illusions and KaibaCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 00:49:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14320863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CityEscape4/pseuds/CityEscape4
Summary: After talking with Alit, Yuma and Kaito help Durbe reach a sort of solice.





	Equine Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> There's a bit of a personal indulgence on the origins of Arc V’s Action Duels with this. If their actual origin has been introduced in the show, I apologize, as I’m only on episode 5.

It had been a few months since Yuma's duel against Astral, and the revival of the Barians as humans thanks to the Numeron Code. All the now ex-Barians lived in the large manor the Kamishiro siblings owned, all but Mizael and Gilag had been enrolled in school with makeshift aliases thanks to Kaito, and life seemed to resume to normal, - or at least, as close to normal as things could be - for everyone. Even after settling the affair of the merging of Astral and Barian worlds, which everyone had been called upon by Eliphas, Ena, and Astral for help, it seemed like things were finally retaining their placidity.

And for Durbe, that meant catching up on the history that had changed the world from what is used to be in his very first life, to what it was now. Having been enrolled in the same class year as Nasch and Merag, (who still went by Ryoga and Rio, except when it came to Vector and Mizael, who refused to call them such) he spent the majority of his time in school by them, and most of his time out of school studying.

And today was no different, as he was studying in the school’s library, waiting for Rio to finish up with monitoring other students’ detentions. Things had been going like normal until…

“Oi, Durbe!” Durbe cringed at the sound of Yuma’s obnoxiously loud voice, having immediately missed the silence the library had previously cocooned him in.

Yuma walked up to Durbe’s table, looking almost mischievously excited. “Whatcha doin’?” He asked, still not paying attention to the volume of his voice.

Raising a finger up against his lips, Durbe glanced over to several other students who were looking at Yuma rather annoyedly, along with a death-glaring librarian. “Mind your voice, Yuma.”

“Hehehe, sorry.” Yuma replied sheepishly, a hand going to rub at the back of his head. His volume level lowered considerably, Durbe half-surprised the bi-colored haired male was able to grasp the concept of quiet. “You’re not too busy, are you?”

Gray eyes looked up at Yuma, and Durbe sighed, closing his book and journal before muttering, “Why? What did Alit and Gilag get themselves into this time?”

Yuma shook his head, “No, no, it’s nothing like that. And before you ask, it’s not Vector either. I, uhh, I actually need you for something.”

Curiosity piqued, Durbe arched a brow, looking over Yuma questioningly. “What is it?”

“You just gotta trust me.” Yuma gave Durbe a heartfelt smile. “Please?”

If this were Alit or Vector, the silver-haired male would have outright refused. He’d been on the unsuspecting end of too many pranks to trust a plea like that. With Yuma it was… different, Durbe couldn’t find it in himself but to trust the other duelist. “Alright.” Durbe said, packing up his books and journal into his crossbody bag and pushing his chair in behind him as he got up. “I’m trusting you.”

“Great!” Yuma exclaimed a little too loudly, prompting a chorus of ‘shh’s!’ to flood him from other students.

* * *

It wasn’t long before Yuma had led Durbe to Heartland Tower of all places. They had easily been let in, and Yuma was guiding them both throughout the place like he knew it like the back of his hand.

“Yuma, what are we doing here?” Durbe asked as he took in the size of Heartland Tower. “Is Kaito dueling with Mizael or Ryoga?” Those were the only reasons he could have thought up for this random impromptu visit.

“Just give it a minute longer!” Yuma insisted, leading them both into an elevator, “You said you trusted me, right?”

Durbe was silent for a second, mulling over what could have possibly urged Yuma to bring him here, but soon responded, “Yes, I did. I still do.”

“Good.” Yuma’s smile was bright enough to light the whole elevator. “Oh, and here.” Yuma then pulled out a card from his extra deck, face down. He handed it to Durbe, who then proceeded to turn it face up to see just what card it was, only to be stopped by Yuma. “Not yet, ok? Just wait until we’re there.”

If he were being honest, Durbe was currently thankful he was a patient person, for both his and Yuma’s sake. Had it been Mizael Yuma had practically kidnapped, Yuma wouldn’t have had someone nearly as compliant.

Soon the elevator reached its destination, a floor deep down in the heart of Heartland Tower. The room was dark and for a split second, Durbe was hesitant to step out of the elevator, but as Yuma stepped out onto the floor, the lights began to flicker on one by one, unveiling a large area with markings on the ground, ones Durbe recognised as the markers for where people were supposed to stand when they dueled.

“You brought me here to duel me?” Durbe asked as he walked out onto the floor, unconvinced that was the reason why. After all, Yuma could have just as easily dueled him at the school, so why here?

“Ah?” Yuma turned to look at Durbe, his head tilted slightly to the side. “No, but we could do that after maybe? I still haven’t gotten to duel you out of all the other Barians! Err, well, you guys aren’t Barians anymore, but you know what I mea-”

“After what?” Durbe interrupted, a small frown on his face. “Why have you brought me here?”

“I can answer that.” Came Kaito’s voice, from over a speaker.

Durbe looked around for Kaito, finding him in an observation room high up, looking down upon him and Yuma. “Heartland’s scientists have been working with the companies who have made Duel Monsters possible - Illusion Industries and KaibaCorp - for a way on enhancing the Duel Monsters experience.” Kaito said. “It’s been in progress for sometime now, but it just moved into it’s beta stage, and we can start testing it in much more open, specially made spaces, like the one you’re in.”

“And what does this have to do with me?” Durbe asked, his expression not changing from the frown he’d been sporting.

“Originally, nothing. That is, until Yuma insisted you be the first to test it out.”

“And what does it do, exactly?”

Yuma smiled at Durbe’s question, crimson eyes gleaming with excitement. “Kaito said this thing will make the monsters more realistic, like you can actually touch them!”

Durbe seemed unamused by this answer. “We could do that on Barian World. Before Mizael used his Galaxy Eyes as a card, it was a living, breathing dragon that resided deep within the heart of Barian World.”

Kaito frowned at Durbe’s response, but before he could make a rebuttal, Yuma spoke. “Just look at the card I gave you, Durbe.”

Durbe glanced over at Yuma, before looking down at the card that still rested in his grip, turning it over. Gray eyes widened at the name printed there.

“… Numbers 44, Sky Pegasus?” Durbe’s hand trembled slightly, an action he mentally cursed himself for, and he looked up at Yuma, confusion clear on his face. “Astral took all the numbers cards, didn’t he? How-”

“Astral let me borrow it. Ever since we all helped with merging Astral World and Barian World, Astral’s been able to come and go between here and Astral World every now and then.” Yuma explained, his smile gentle. “Last time he was here, I asked him for it, if only for a little bit. Next time he comes, I gotta give it back to him.”

It was then that it hit Durbe. If Kaito’s test were to work, and he were to summon Sky Pegasus in it, then… “Mach…” He hadn't really much of his memories when he, Ryoga, Yuma, and the others were at his ruins. He definitely didn't register that the man Yuma had been dueling was Mach made human until it was far too late, something that Durbe had admittedly regretted once he'd realized it. 

Yuma nodded. “Alit mentioned to me that he and Gilag felt bad about how Ponta had been brought back as a normal raccoon and lived in Ryoga and Rio’s house with y'all, but Mach didn’t come back, not even as a normal horse or a human.” Yuma’s gaze travelled down to the ground, and he nudged the toe of his shoe against the floor. “When I came to visit Haruto one day, he told me about what Kaito was working on, and so Alit and I talked with him, and Kaito said he didn’t care if you wanted to try this out when it was ready. So then I talked to Astral and he let me borrow the card for it.”

Durbe was speechless. He looked down at Sky Pegasus in his hand once more, and a string of old memories flooded him. His first encounter with Mach, the time they’d spent together as knight and steed, introducing him to Nasch and Merag, fighting against Vector, their deaths…

Then again, this was all just an invention made by Heartland, right? Just because this card once held Mach’s spirit, didn’t mean that the machine would actually bring that out, right? That it would actually be him visually - and physically - produced? Just the art on the card, and a fake pegasus, with a built in, robotic personality. Not Mach. “I… I don’t think I can do this.”

“Really?” Kaito’s voice came again, prompting both the males to look up. “You’re just going to refuse like that, because you’re afraid? You’re nothing like Ryoga described. Strong and level-headed?” Kaito scoffed. “If you don’t want to do it, fine. I’ll just test it with Galaxy Eyes, like I had originally planned.”

“Kaito!” The look on Yuma’s face, as well as the tone of his voice when he called out Kaito’s name was insistent. “Don’t!”

Durbe closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. “Fine.” Gray eyes looked up towards the observatory deck Kaito was in. “I’ll do it. Just tell me how.”

“To your right,” Kaito said, “are specially made duel disks. As of now, this can only work with one of those. Put it on, then summon the card like you would in a duel.”

Durbe nodded, and did as Kaito said, grabbing a duel disk and wearing it, a small blue light emanating from the floor as the duel disk turned on. Durbe took in a breath, and exhaled, exclaiming as he played the card, “I summon Numbers 44, Sky Pegasus!”

It wasn’t even a second before Sky Pegasus appeared before him like it would in a duel, except it was touching the floor, even producing a shadow. Durbe tensed slightly, but stepped forward, not knowing what to say. “Sky Pegasus?”

The creature turned around at the sound of his voice, blue eyes staring Durbe down. It was then Durbe saw he’d been right about one thing. This definitely didn’t look like Mach, but instead the art on the card. Mach hadn’t had blue eyes, after all, and wasn't half mechanical. The creature then spread its wings and neighed, rearing up on it’s hind legs for a brief moment before landing on all fours. Durbe’s hands went up, trying to show the pegasus he meant no harm. “Easy, easy…”

The creature then snorted, his wings retracting slightly, before stepping a bit closer to Durbe, a soft nicker leaving its lips.

Durbe’s heart was pounding in his chest. He lowered his hands slightly, and took a chance. “Mach?”

The pegasus seemed to sorta freeze at that, and for a second, Durbe thought the invention was malfunctioning, but no sooner than the thought formed in his mind, the creature was walking towards him once more, brushing its forehead against Durbe’s. Durbe’s hands instinctively rose to either side of the pegasus’s muzzle, earning him another nicker, this one louder than the first.

A hot wetness began to burn at Durbe’s eyes, and he closed them, attempting to blink away the tears. “Mach… Is it really you…?”

The pegasus let loose a soft whinny, gently bumping its head against Durbe’s, which resulted in a breathy laugh from the silver-haired male. “Mach.” Durbe confirmed to himself as he nuzzled Mach’s forehead, which prompted Mach to curve his wings around Durbe in return, almost protectively so. “Mach, my old friend… I’ve missed you so much…”

Mach nickered once more, gently bumping his head against Durbe’s once more, as if saying ‘I’ve missed you too.’

Durbe smiled, his thumbs gently brushing along Mach’s nuzzle. “I have lifetimes of stories to tell you.”

**Author's Note:**

> listen i just want some sort of closure for durbe about mach ok
> 
> he was right!!! there!!! in the ruins and there was no interaction, not even the faintest acknowledgement from human!mach about durbe at all
> 
> i'm just super bitter about what could have been i'm so sorry


End file.
